At Japan Print, our multicultural influences play a role in each piece of work that we do. As shown in our name alone, we derive a large portion of our creative vision from Japan and Japanese culture. While it’s difficult to break down Japan’s wealth of inspiration in a few images, we have compiled photographs that help encompass the beauty, culture, and design showcased in Japan. Above all, this design inspiration from Japan is intended to motivate you to expand your design horizons and not be afraid to experiment.

In a world where so much information is being thrown at everyone all the time, sometimes taking simplest route will make you stand out the most. These minimalist business cards make every detail count to leave a lasting impression.

It’s that time of year again. Models are flooding the streets of Manhattan, dwellers are dressed to the nines and New Yorkers are seemingly more cheeky than usual. New York Fashion Week is taking over. As a New Yorker, you can view this in one of two ways: angry because the subways are especially delayed this week, or stoked to get your networking game on with new eager faces. We choose the latter.

The Big Apple: Where business is social and social is business. That’s why networking and face-time are key to finding real success in your business. “Ninety percent of all jobs are about fit,” says Trudy Steinfeld, executive director of NYU’s Wasserman Center for Career Development. “The only way people figure this out is by meeting with you face-to-face.”

“Inspiration can be a fickle thing,” says Cameron Chapman of Smashing Magazine. Like any creative process, inspiration doesn’t solely come from within. Sometime it takes exterior sources to spark an idea. There is a lot more to designing a business card than what meets the eye. What do you want your business card to say about your company both literally and metaphorically? What color scheme best captures your audience? How funky can you be without crossing the line of unprofessional? Are they easy to read?

When people order business cards from our NYC print shop, there are some requests that almost everyone seems to want. Some of these common requests include printing on a nice material and adding some sort of effect such as spot gloss or raised ink. Of all the requests that we encounter, having a thick and sturdy business card is by far the most popular.

To some degree, I am not surprised that people would want thicker, more substantial business cards. However, I didn’t expect to see just how thick people wanted them. This unexpected demand has caused us to alter our production strategy and cater to a different set of priorities. Printing on heavyweight stock is not easy, and I’m not kidding when I say that. That being said, its worth the effort. We are one of only a handful of business card suppliers who can do things like that.

First of all, lets look at what the average business card thickness is. Most business cards are printed on #100-110lb stock, which is equivelent to 12pt cover for those who use the point system. Although you will never be criticized for using the standard weight, those business cards are not exactly memorable (unless they have a great design). We’ve found that it doesn’t make much sense for us to offer the standard weight because our customers never order them after seeing heavier business cards. We start at #130lb or 16pt cover, and go up from there.

There are many finishes that you can opt for on your business cards and I’ve covered some of the possible options in an earlier blog post. This topic is actually brought up quite often when people are shopping for business cards in NYC, and I presume its probably the case for most parts of the country. Though this may surprise some people, it doesn’t surprise me at all. The texture of a business card is an excellent way to differentiate your card from many others, not to mention the appeal that some textured stocks offer.

When people approach us about printing textured business cards, its usually over the phone. This presents a very fundamental problem in that a texture needs to be seen and felt in person in order to be fully aware of its characteristics. We are a small print shop in NYC specializing in business cards, and we don’t have other locations outside of New York City. We do however receive regular inquiries from outside of NYC. So we are tasked with the challenge of trying to educate our potential customers about the subtle characteristics of the numerous textures that we can print on. Needless to say, its really tough. So I figured I’d blog about it. Maybe this writing can help answer a few questions that people might have.